The PPC Posting Board - Latest posts

I did another fic, Ski Trip, where the author posted the same chapter twice instead of a new chapter. I'm honestly not sure if it made the fic easier or harder to follow.
And thanks for spotting the mistakes in the last mission, including the thing about Hermione's age, which was a blunder on my part. As bad as I am with anything related to numbers I really should have learned to always double-check.

Over the last three years, I mentioned on several occasions that I’m not sure whether I actually want to write missions. Whenever this happened, somebody pointed out that I could write about the infrastructure departments, or write interludes for agents whose actual missions I just skip (apparently people want to see me write something). Doing this obviously still requires Permission, because the writing would be representing the PPC, but I don’t see why it would require the demonstrable ability to find missionable badfic and to explain why this badfic is sporkable. Maybe we shouldn’t make the stakes too high? On the other hand, applicants usually do want to write missions, so implementing a Restricted Permission to write everything PPC that isn’t a mission – that requires everything required for full Permission except choosing a badfic – would be ridiculous.

I don’t remember any Permission requests from the last three years where the badfic to be sporked was chosen from the Unclaimed Badfic list. Except my own, where I implied that this might be a reason to turn me down, but got Permission anyway. (I’m the biggest Mary Sue on the Board; everybody loves me and PGs go out of their way to fulfill my every whim :-) Actually, I just don’t like to actively search for badfic, and will probably always depend on others proposing badfic to spork. I don’t believe that this says anything about the ability – which I still have to demonstrate – to do the sporking. But the PGs may be justified in asking that the answer to 'and why you've chosen it' in such cases shows some own thoughts beyond copypasting the reasons given by the original proponent. (I, of course, would just have pointed to PC’s appropriate workshop, where I had already started to prepare for the mission.)

HG

Traditional signs in the inner ring, accurate ones in the outer.

---

Okay, simple rundown of astrology as I understand it:

-The dial is split into the various zodiac signs. It's also split into 12 Houses, starting at the 9 o'clock position on the dial and counting anticlockwise.
-Which house a planet is in determines what it affects. Which sign a planet is in affects how strong it is (basically).
-The angles between planets (around the centre of the circle) can intensify their effects.

The houses and angles won't change between my traditional and IAU-approved charts; the signs will, which Could Be Critical! Let's take a look.

The sun is in the fourth house. It forms a sextile (60 degree angle) with Mars, and is in conjunction with Venus. Exciting! A Sun-Venus conjunction is favourable! Now the fourth house is the house of Home and Family, so that means I'll have a good home-life, with strong influences from myself (the Sun represents the self, basically) and... well Venus is harmony, comfort, and romance. So yeah, happy marriage. ;)

The sextile with Mars indicates that both the sun and Venus will have easy communication with that planet, which represents confidence, ambition, strength (and also sexuality, oh stars my horoscope wants to be porn!). Mars is poking about in the second house, the house of Value (yes, as in money). So either my job will help with a happy marriage, or Mars wants me to sell nude pictures. No, Mars. There shall be none of that.

So that's all fixed. Coming now to the signs, we find that the Sun and Venus have moved from Capricorn to Sagittarius, while Mars has moved from Scorpio to Libra. Oh dear, poor Mars! It has moved from dignity to detriment - its strength is reduced by moving from a sign it rules to a sign it's opposed to. Haha, Mars, there shall be no porn for you. I should also highlight that the planets of self and love have moved from the sign of cautious action to the sign of enthusiastic flexibility, while the planet of strength has moved from inflexible empathy (???) to dynamic communication. So, uh, now I'm in PR?

Okay, moving on. How many planets are left? ... seven? Good grief. Okay.

Let's go from the sun to the moon. The Moon is in the seventh house, the house of Partnerships - yes, we're sticking with the marriage theme! It forms a square with Pluto (in Home and Family), and a trine with Uranus (in the third house, Communication). Okay! So, the Moon is my emotions, and is saying they'll be key in how I interact with people. Pluto is transformative, and the square means there's stress between my emotional interactions with others, and my... need to change at home, I think? Meanwhile, Uranus - the planet of genius - says I'm good at talking to people, particularly in my childhood and other small-scale stuff. Um, Uranus, you are a lying liar. Oh, and the trine with the moon means that my easy friendships will be a source of artistic talent.

How about the signs? The moon has slipped from Aries to Pisces, Pluto from Capricorn to Sagittarius, and Uranus from Sagittarius to - oh yes, it's there - Ophiuchus. All of which means... absolutely nothing regarding rulership, as far as I can tell. It does mean that my emotions have gone from enthusiastic action to emotional adaptability, which is... probably good? Frankly, I think the moon is just talking gibberish at me; it hasn't said anything that makes sense. Unlike Mars, which at least had a plan going in.

Speaking of Pluto, it's in a sextile with Mars - yes, the porn Mars. So I think that means they're ganging up on me. Mars says 'make money from sexuality', Pluto says 'you need a change at home' - yep, I'm being bullied by my horoscope.

What else is significant in here? Ooh, Neptune is in a sextile with Mercury, that looks like fun! So Neptune says my Home and Family life (yeah, my sign is heavily interpersonally-loaded) is going to be harmonius and prosperous, and possibly socialist, and that there's harmony between that and the fact that I value (second house) education/rationality (Mercury). I'm Huinesoron and I approve this message. ^_^

Sign-wise, Neptune makes the now-familiar jump from Capricorn to Sagittarius, with no obvious consequences (I'm now resourceful in my socialism, though!), while Mercury skips over Libra entirely and jumps from Scorpio to Virgo. Ooh, Mercury is the ruler of Virgo! That means my valuing education is intensified, and I'm going to become a scientist. WHO KNEW.

One more sextile, between Jupiter and Uranus. We know Uranus thinks I'm a genius at communication; Jupiter is perched in the fifth house, the House of Pleasure (oh stars, tell me it hasn't been chatting to Mars!). Jupiter is also partly the planet of pleasure, but also of exploration and the law. I... think that all comes together to mean I'm going to be really good at talking to my children and helping them expand their horizons? Maybe? But with Jupiter crossing from its rule of Pisces to - oh no! - its fall in Capricorn, apparently not that good.

There's more that could be said; I haven't even mentioned Saturn, which is hanging out with Uranus in the Third House telling me I'm super-productive when chatting to people. But I think we've seen enough to draw some conclusions:

-My horoscope super wants me to have a family.
-The shift in signs means I'm going to be a bad dad now.
-Mars and Pluto want me to get into porn.

That was fun!

hS

The SWTOR fic is probably going to be the most complicated of the fics I've got planned as I'm going to try and tie several of the characters more closely together, so that the story lines intersect more, and maybe add in a couple of extra bits that allow interactions and stuff. The main characters in this are probably going to be the Smuggler and the Bounty Hunter, with the Knight, Inquisitor, Agent and Trooper taking on more minor roles, I'm not quite sure where to put the Consular or Warrior as I haven't got beyond the Prologue with those two classes, and hadn't even started them when I planned the fic originally.

I'll let you know when I start the fic, although I've got the prologue itself about halfway done and lying around on my hard drive somewhere.

Cyan here, to welcome the first newbie of the day! Have a compilation of SBaHJ comics! It's .jpeg-tastic!

Simple enough.
Cheers for the examples.

Looking through my seven PPC: Driftwood missions, I would give reasons like:

'Winterwood' splices Frozen into LotR without regard for how to make that work.

'And So The Journey Begins' saves Boromir, but refuses to let that impact the plot.

'Kelly the Roman Warrior' is a probably-trollish, badly-written mashup of a dozen canons without even trying to make sense.

'Opposite Reaction Same Result' badly warps the character of the two protagonists.

'Bella Black' does the same thing, trying to make Bellatrix Lestrange sympathetic simply by... replacing her with someone sympathetic.

'Thorin's Little Princess' spends so much time lavishing powers on its protagonist that it forgets to give her actual character.

'The King's Mercy' is Wormtongue slash, but is actually well-written! I PPC'd it to have an ending other than killing something.

I'm not suggesting an essay, but literally a sentence explaining what you think is bad. 'It's famous', 'the author writes bad stories', 'it's slash/AU'... these are the sort of responses that would be a bad sign. (And if they said 'it's a Mary Sue', I'd ask 'why do you say that?'.)

hS

I still maintain that there is a massive difference between sarcasm and direct personal attacks using sexist language of the kind the other person was arguing shouldn't be used. If Data Junkie disagrees, then I think that's a serious problem for someone who wants to be a member of a community centered on the principle of 'snark, don't flame'.

But I accept your point. I can't promise never to interact with Data Junkie; if I see them (to restate the current thread) trying to change the language acceptable in the PPC community to something I think would be both personally and communally off-putting, based on a completely wrong starting premise, then I will say something - and I'm not going to do some silly 'reply to someone else's post with what I would have said to them' thing, either. I never did it at school, I'm not going to start now. ^_~

But I can and will do my level best not to use the least trace of sarcasm or snark when talking to them.

hS

PS: This post went through multiple edits, mostly to add and then remove again comments about things Data Junkie has done in the past. I am and always have been making an effort not to bring that stuff up, despite a burning desire to do so. ~hS

You are right, I was doing what I always do when I feel like I've been attacked, I start trying to fight fire with fire. I fell like this has become a trend lately, especially combined with the shut-down I got in the Hunger Games thread when I was just making a joke.

But yeah, if hS is willing to get off my back, or at the very least resort to a neutral third party if he has a problem with something I've said and needs to convey this to me, then I can do the same.

Welcome, welcome! Make yourself comfortable and have a slice of Infinite Pizza!

Biological warfare!
You animals!

Welcome, Akrinor, High Ruler of the Garbazions of Zognon 4. We, at the PPC, salute your most-high presence on our most insignificant planet of earth.

We present to you, our most holy artefact: a telly-vish-on ray-mote. It produces telepathic beams, allowing you to communicate mentally with our telly-vish-on technology, with naught but the press of a button!

Welcome, High Ruler!

Here, have this best hamster, and a nice bit of music.

Have a disappearing kitten!

I would be *delighted* to beta some SWTOR fanfic, though I will note that I haven't yet completed all the plotlines. I'd be most helpful if it's to do with the Inquisitor, the Warrior, or KotFE. (And I'm trying to avoid stuff about Agents, since I know they have Plot Twists.)

But if it's not about an Agent, I'd be happy to lend assistance!

I'm glad to hear that you're okay, and I hope that things go well with the new therapist.

*adds to to-do list: print out fox photo and place in areas which have problems. The last bathroom stall, the alcove around the corner from the gym, the House of Congress. Fox 'em all and the problems will melt away*

Has choosing an appropriate fic to spork been a common problem historically/recently? I'm actually inclined to say yes, and that hS's proposal would help things (by clarifying why we want to see the fic they've chosen) but I want to double-check that we're not changing the rules unless there's actually a problem. Overcomplicating the application process will just make it scarier to new writers. And, yeah, we want it to be scary, to keep out people who aren't committed enough, but let's not make it any scarier than it needs to be, please.

--Key's bias is that she is working on her own Permission piece and hopes not to freak out and give up like last time

A one- or two-sentence explanation for what the fic does that doesn't work would be plenty of showing off the Boarder's canon knowledge.

—doctorlit randomly adds to the conversation for some reason

Some fics are so short that it may be difficult to justify why a single thing is major enough to be a badfic. For example, there exists a Skyrim fic where the main problem boils down to "Magic doesn't work that way." This doesn't seem horrible enough to spork, but "Someone uses a spell that grants the user whatever they want for Bad Slash" probably does.

Giving away that reason may take some humor value out of the sporking if it's the main problem. However, that may be a sign that it shouldn't be a first mission for a PPC writer.

I can beta for that series, I like to think I know Skyrim pretty well (as well as TES in general). Can't help with any of the others, though.

Have one of my own shed feathers, a pen that turns into a celestial bronze sword, and a Golden Snitch with a Poke Ball engraving!